The E3D ToolChanger - Beta 30 is taking shape!

“Beta30’s are taking over the US”

Machines are out in the wild and being put through their paces by our trusted Beta testers! So far, we've smoothly shipped 16 ToolChangers across Europe and the States and the next batch - due to ship early February - will complete our Beta programme. Thus far we've reported no major issues and the only thing we are currently reconsidering is whether side panels should be included as part of the default kit: it seems these panels contribute to the stiffness more than we expected. This, plus a few extra grub screws being needed here and there, are the only issues we're facing at the moment, meaning there is nothing that we can foresee delaying the project.

"Quality and precision of supplied machined parts is top-class"

“After stiffening the printer, the motion system really seems to be perfect!”

In reference to the Adalinda model printed above, it's worth us pointing out that despite the large number of tool changes they only contribute 5% from our initial time penalty calculations. It's clear that the ToolChanger is much faster than other multi material systems that require lengthy purging and sacrificial printing objects.

So, what happens next?

In order to keep the momentum of the project rolling we are giving our Beta testers until 1st March to provide us with their feedback. All feedback is being recorded, and documents updated as we’re going, but that date is the point at which we we will sit down and decide whether or not any re-engineering is required. Taking into consideration the feedback that we have received so far we are feeling confident that any adjustments to the ToolChanger and Motion System will be minimal and we can go full steam ahead with production.

Bearing this in mind, we have been able to do some provisional forecasting and anticipate that we will be in a position to start placing orders for all the parts and gearing up the production line at the end of March. We’ve been blown away by the amount of interest in the E3D ToolChanger and are responding to this increased demand by hiring more staff and renting another unit on the business park where assembly will take place. The foundations for the first production batch are being laid and we want to thank you all for your ongoing patience with this project: the finish line is near!

Lets get down to the numbers

*Please note these figures are still not set in stone but they are a very good indication of the final prices.

Full Kit: £2,600 (excluding VAT)

1 Motion System

1 ToolChanger Head

4 V6 Bowden Tools

1 Duet Wiring Loom

1 Duet Wi-Fi

1 Duex5

1 24V PSU

1 300x200 HT Heated Bed

4 Titans (2 Standard & 2 Mirrored, 1.75mm, Bowden Adaptor)

1 SSR

Let’s face it, we’re as excited as you guys to get these machine into the big wide world and need to stress to you that at this point our main commitment is to those 500+ customers who have paid deposits for their machines. In the future we will sell the ToolChanger Head separately - ToolChanger Head: £150 (excluding VAT) - however this does require a small amount of re-engineering in order to make it easily mountable onto any printer.

Out with the old and in with the new! The new, upgraded ToolChanging plate has more load capacity and more precision

That’s enough from us: take a look at what our Beta Tester’s have been getting up to

The direct drive heads are based around the upcoming Titan V2 which is currently still in development. We are hoping to release a TV2 Tool at the same time as the general TV2 launch. Unfortunately we don't have fixed timescales but in the mean time Greg has designed a printable tool which uses the Titan Aero and this will be available to download when we launch the ToolChanger. Thanks, E3D

Any outlook on developing a larger print bed version of the tool changer motion system? I would be highly interested in a tool changing system for a larger platform (say 500 or 600mm square) where we could take advantage of the tool changing to switch between a normal v6 head for perimeter details and colors, and a super volcano for interior material to decrease print time.

Glad to see things are moving along well! The new price was a bit of a shock at first given earlier indications but when you consider this is the full no compromise kit that seems to be performing well in testing then it would be a great addition to our print farm especially for specialist multi material prints. I too was hoping for the Titan 2 direct drive to be ready for my order as we use some flexible's that really need it.

Looking at the video from René Jurack the biggest remaining noise source seem to be the running fans at the device.
Have you tested whether implementing Noctua fans can reduce this remaining noise level a bit?
I heard Prusa has switched some of their fans to this brand due to their noice reduction potential -thus it would be interesting to see whether this makes sense for the Tool Changer as well.
Looking forward to getting my hands on this beauty - and thanks for all your efforts in developing this new concept.

Having just searched for comments written by yourself I was unable to find anything and just to let you know we never delete peoples comments! Please feel free to leave your message again if it's not too much of an inconvenience.

My first and second attempt just now to post this reply seemed both to fail again.
Good thing I copied it before hitting the button!
I guess it can be put down to a website glitch then. I've removed my website and changed the email this time... fingers crossed!!

What I essentially wrote last week was my reaction to the latest info on the printer;
My initial reaction was that the cost was significantly higher than what Sanjay initially intimated way back at the start.
But on closer view, this is now a virtually complete printer and not just the basic mechanical unit discussed at the start.
The real value is in what it can achieve with a practical multi-material system with possibilities for more - so to a business like us it's good value!

Since we combine flexibles and rigids in our prints having a direct drive Titan V2 on one of the heads, if not all, would be something we'd be hopeful to get as part of the purchase.

Hi Scott, finally! Apologies for this, sometimes the messages take a while to show. Thanks for your message and for sharing our excitement. Just in case it wasn't clear enough in the blog post, each of the items will be available to purchase as individual items, the price we have given is an indicator of what you'd be paying if you decided to buy everything. The Titan V2 is still in development but we're hoping that we will have a TV2 tool to launch at the same time as general release. We've got a busy few months ahead of us! Thanks, Georgia